The Copa Catalunya () is a

knockout competition A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

organised by the

Catalan Football Federation The Catalan Football Federation (, ; FCF) is the Association football, football association responsible for administering football in Catalonia. It was formed on 11 November 1900 as the Football Associació de Catalunya (). It was the first footb ...

for football clubs in the

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

autonomous community The autonomous communities () are the first-level administrative divisions of Spain, created in accordance with the Spanish Constitution of 1978, with the aim of guaranteeing limited autonomy to the nationalities and regions that make up Sp ...

of Spain.

History

Between 1903 and 1940, it was known as the '' Championship of Catalonia'', and enjoyed great prestige and interest at a time where

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

did not exist. The club that won the title participated with other regional champions in the ''Spanish Cup'', which until the beginning of La Liga in 1929 was the most important tournament in Spanish football. The Championship of Catalonia football was prohibited from taking place after 1940 by

Francoist Spain Francoist Spain (), also known as the Francoist dictatorship (), or Nationalist Spain () was the period of Spanish history between 1936 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death i ...

. Catalan clubs were forced to compete only in competitions organised by the Spanish Football Federation, which included La Liga and the

Copa del Generalísimo The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanish f ...

. Once democracy was restored in Spain, it was again held in 1984 under the name ''Copa Generalitat'', although during the first five editions, it had no recognition from the Spanish Football Federation. It was held in the pre-season of August, and only non-professional third-division teams were allowed to participate. The 1989–90 season was recognized as an official competition by the Catalan Football Federation. In 1991, First and Second Division teams such as

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

and

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as RCD Espanyol, is a Spanish professional sports club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The club competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spa ...

were allowed to join the competition; since then, these teams have been able to win most of the tournaments. In 1993, the competition was renamed to Copa Catalunya. In recent years, the competition has acquired a certain prestige thanks to the Catalan media because of the involvement of the big clubs like Barcelona and Espanyol and the fielding of their biggest stars to compete. However, the prestige of the cup is still far from the splendor it enjoyed before the 1940s. In 2012 the format of the Copa Catalunya was changed. Henceforth, there will be two competitions, one for the Copa Catalunya and one for the Supercopa de Catalunya. The latter will be held between the two biggest teams of the region. On 31 July 2012,

announced the permanent suspension of the Supercopa competition due to previous disagreements between Catalonia's top football clubs FC Barcelona and RCD Espanyol. For the 2014–15 edition, both teams agreed to play the Supercopa on 29 October at

Estadi Montilivi Estadi Montilivi is a multi-use stadium in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. It is used mostly for Association football, football matches and serves as the home ground of Girona FC. It was built and opened in 1970. Montilivi has a capacity of 14,624. Hi ...

Girona Girona (; ) is the capital city of the Province of Girona in the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 106,476 in 2024, but the p ...

, while the reserve teams of both clubs joined the 2014–15 Copa Catalunya. In July 2016, the Catalan Football Federation, Barcelona and Espanyol agreed to play again the Supercopa de Catalunya, two years after its first edition.

Copa Generalitat (unofficial)

Copa Generalitat (official)

Copa Catalunya

Performance by club

Supercopa de Catalunya

References

{{Copa Catalunya Catalan football competitions Football cup competitions in Spain